‘Affect’ and ‘effect’ are not synonyms; neither are ‘insure’ and ‘ensure’. However, according to my dictionary, inquiry and enquiry are; there is no difference between them. So I’m left to question if these two words have always meant the same thing. Was there a time when an inquiry was different from an enquiry? If so, have they come to mean the same because of improper usage and/or poor spelling habits over the years. Currently, do these words fall into the ‘color/colour’ category, that is, with the spelling depending on the user’s nationality? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
According to the OED, “enquire” comes from French and “inquire” comes more directly from Latin. They seemed to separate their spellings sometime in the 14th or 15th centuries. From what I can also discern, the English like “inquire” while the Scots preferred “enquire.”
“Enquire” is described as “half-Latinized.”
“Endorse” and “indorse” are a similar pair.
Thanks BobT(especially for the “half-Latinized” description).